Apparently, Moody’s has kept the outlook for SA’s banking system stable – this comes as no real surprize as we, the customers, are being ripped off on a daily basis by exorbitant bank charges and ridiculous fees overall.

A report cites the following: “the improved operating conditions in the last two years have had a positive impact on the banking sector’s performance”. Once again, these “operating conditions” only mildly allure to the fact that banks are making huge profits, at our expense. On the other side of the coin, some of these “conditions” definitely protected us from the major implications that other countries are facing due to their relaxed lending policies, but the South African public is not as interested in this as much as what affects our pockets each month. This would also not be frowned upon as much, if banks only started to understand that their forced monopolies are being overcharged and this overcharging is starting to affect not just individuals, but also small businesses which in turn has a major impact on the economy as a whole.

The only “upside” to this report is the fact that Moody’s downgraded SA’s debit outlook from stable to negative. At least this places the focus on the fact that public funds are dwindling and poverty and unemployment is on the rise – what we, and the banks, are doing about this, is as yet unclear…

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